United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting to save his premiership after more than 80 lawmakers from his governing center-left Labour Party publicly called for him to resign or set a timetable for his departure.

A defiant Starmer defied calls to quit, telling his cabinet he will “get on with governing.” Four ministers have resigned from government, but more than 100 Labour lawmakers have signed a letter warning against a party leadership contest, according to the UK’s PA news agency.

The Labour Party mutiny was spurred by disastrous results in last week’s local elections, which saw it lose more than 1,400 seats in English councils and suffer heavy losses in elections for the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. The hard-right Reform UK party was the main beneficiary of Labour’s slump.

The crisis looks set to tip Britain back into the political chaos which has defined its last decade. If Starmer chooses to step aside, or is ousted, his successor would become Britain’s sixth prime minister in seven years.

At least 81 members of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party including Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, have publicly called for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to either resign or set a timetable for his departure.

The figures are 20 per cent of the party’s 403 MPs, the threshold needed to trigger a leadership contest. It is the most serious internal threat yet to the prime minister from within his own ranks.
But Starmer has remained defiant.

The results added to a miserable few months for Starmer who has been engulfed in scandal over his decision to appoint, and then sack, Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Mandelson was a former friend of Jeffrey Epstein, sex offender.

Earlier this year, Starmer fended off calls to quit over his decision to appoint Mandelson.

The prime minister has also faced criticism over a failure to revive the economy, leaving British citizens to grapple with a high cost of living.